USA on brink of history at CONCACAF U-17 Championship

Doug McIntyre

Soccer Journalist

The United States under-17 men’s national team has an opportunity to do what no other country has done when they play host Guatemala Tuesday (8 p.m. ET, FS2): qualify for the FIFA U-17 World Cup for a record 18th time.

Only Brazil has participated in the biennial competition, regarded as a launchpad for future stars, as often as the U.S. have. Brazil’s U-17 squad will shoot for its 18th appearance when South America’s qualifying tournament kicks off next month.

The young Americans’ track record at this level suggests that reaching the main event in Peru in November will be easy. After all, U.S. has failed to qualify just once (in 2013) since the inaugural U-17 World Cup in 1985. The current version has rolled through all comers at the ongoing CONCACAF U-17 Championship, winning all four of their games and outscoring foes 16-1 en route to Tuesday’s decisive quarterfinal. The four teams that advance to the semis will also book their trips to Peru.

Still, Tuesday’s contest will be tricky. The U.S.’s first four tests — victories against Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago, Canada and Dominican Republic — came in front of meager crowds. For this one, the 26,000-seat Estadio Mateo Flores in Guatemala City — the national stadium — will be packed with blue-clad fans desperate to see the local side pull an upset.

“Everything is on the line, right?” U.S. coach Gonzalo Segares said after Saturday’s 7-0 drubbing of the Dominicans in the round of 16. “First that World Cup ticket, and later on to win the tournament,” — something the red, white and blue haven’t done since 2011.

An early glimpse of future USMNT stars…

Historically, the U-17 national team has introduced future standouts to American fans.

Close to half of the 26 members of the U.S. senior team that advanced to the knockout stage at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar used the U-17 World Cup as a coming out party. Kellyn Acosta played in 2011. Shaq Moore captained the 2013 version. Tyler Adams, Luca de la Torre, Christian Pulisic and Haji Wright were among the famous 2015 cohort. Two years later, the headliners were full back Sergiño Dest and forwards Josh Sargent and Tim Weah. Gio Reyna and Joe Scally were on the most recent squad to compete, in 2019. (The 2021 U-17 World Cup was canceled.)

A generation before that, DaMarcus Beasley and Landon Donovan starred at the 1999 U-17 World Cup in New Zealand, where Donovan won the Golden Ball as tourney MVP with Beasley taking home the silver. The Americans’ fourth-place finish that year remains their best — a run Segares’ team hopes to emulate, or better, this fall. Provided of course that they get there.

If they can, making noise in Peru is a realistic ambition. While the senior team is probably a decade or more, at least, away from being able to truly stand toe-to-toe with the likes of Argentina or France, nontraditional powers have thrived at the U-17 level. Nigeria, which has never made the last eight of a senior World Cup, has a record five U-17 titles. Ghana has two. So does Mexico, the Americans’ main rival.

… just don’t forget these are kids

While a few players on the U.S. team currently in Guatemala project to be future senior team members (more on that below), anything that happens at the U-17 level comes with a huge asterisk.

By definition, these players are all still minors. Some are full-time professionals, some aren’t. Only a handful will go on to have long pro careers in MLS, lower-tier U.S. leagues or abroad. Those who could go on to play for the USMNT at a World Cup will likely be offset by those who simply don’t pan out for any number of reasons, retire in their early 20s, and have to get “real” jobs.

Development isn’t linear. Plenty of eventual stars bloom late. Take Weston McKennie, who was cut from that 2015 team featuring Adams, de la Torre, Pulisic and Wright. Tim Ream and Matt Turner played every minute for the U.S. in Qatar, and not only did neither represent the U-17s, they were never picked for the U-20 or U-23 national teams, either.

Figueroa, Medina key players vs. Guatemala

That’s part of the beauty of the U-17 level. You can’t always tell who will go on to succeed at the highest level and who won’t. (Freddy Adu, anyone?) Still, it was clear even at the time that the likes of Adams, Pulisic and Reyna had a shot.

There will be some intriguing youngsters on the field Tuesday. Among the names to watch are midfielder Cruz Medina, a San Jose Earthquakes prospect; fellow 16-year-old Keyrol Figueroa of Liverpool, a forward who leads these Americans with four goals and whose father, former Honduran World Cup player Maynor Figueroa, spent seven years in England’s Premier League; midfielder Adrian Gill, 17, who signed last year to a pro deal with Barcelona; and midfielder Christopher Aquino, who plays for Seattle Sounders development affiliate Tacoma Defiance.

Medina, Figueroa and Gill combined for a pretty winner in last week’s 1-0 victory over Canada:

“We keep improving,” said Aquino, who scored twice in the last U.S. match. “For Tuesday, [it’s] the same mentality as every other game.”

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